Wanna master English listening? Then start by learning how native and expert speakers REALLY pronounce the most common words like the pronoun "I". Did you know that "I" in fact has several alternative, or "chewing gum" pronunciations? Even more interesting, these alternative pronunciations blend and mix with common verbs like AM and WILL. Listen to Episode #125 to master these chewing gum pronunciations and grow your intermediate English listening or advanced English listening skills.

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NGSL vocabulary is the intermediate and advanced English vocabulary you need to score higher on IELTS or TOEFL, and to speak and understand formal English, business English and academic English. If you want to master English, you need to master English vocabulary- and if you already have intermediate English vocabulary, then the NGSL is a great place to start.
So how do you master NGSL vocabulary? By exploring the many different meanings or functions of words from the NGSL. Learn many meanings for each word, and you will understand advanced English texts better, and express yourself with greater interest and accuracy.
In Episode 123, Tim helps you learn ten words with 29 meanings to help you can take one step forward in your IELTS or TOEFL journey.

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Learn NGSL vocabulary to score higher on IELTS and TOEFL, and use business English and academic English with more confidence and greater fluency. There's good news: learning NGSL vocabulary and the different meanings of each NGSL word is a lot of fun! You really can master the New General Service List!
In Episode 122, Tim explains 20 meanings of 5 important words from the NGSL: BOTHER, INITIATIVE, DIET, MOTION and GRAY.

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Students need to focus more on past participles!
Past participles are found in six different grammatical constructions: perfect verb tenses, the passive voice, reduced relative clauses, past participial phrases, the modal perfect, and as adjectives. Understand these six uses and you will more easily decode long and complex sentences, especially in advanced texts.
Episode 121 reviews and consolidates our work in four of these six constructions, and gives an introductory explanation of two new ones- past participles in the modal perfect and as adjectives.
Listen to Episode 121 to finally get a complete picture of how to use this important and underestimated verb form.

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This week, Tim continues and completes his deep analysis of the passive voice, identifying and clarifying six unusual and advanced passive constructions.
Three of these constructions (for example, replacing BE with GET) are typical of conversational English, so learning them can help you understand and use everyday language with better accuracy and confidence. The other three constructions are common in written and formal English, and will help you understand the news and intelligent conversation in greater detail.

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In English, we have two ways of constructing sentences- the active voice and the passive voice. The active voice is the standard, common way to build sentences, while we use the passive voice most commonly in written and academic English. In other words- if you want to understand and use English at an advanced level- then you need the passive voice!
Every passive voice sentence includes a past participle. So now is a great time to listen to Episode #115 on irregular past participles, and also Episode #116 on common pronunciation difficulties with regular past participles.

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The internet and textbooks typically use the EXTENSIVE method to explain grammar. This means they use lots of situations and examples to explain each construction. But we also have the rarely used INTENSIVE method, where you learn one construction with deep, intense focus on one example. If you're learning a new construction, the intensive method gives you a single deeply understood sentence to use as a model for understanding other sentences. If you're reviewing or checking, the intensive way makes sure you understand everything in detail, and fixes mistakes in your understanding.
Listen to Episode 118, where Tim uses the intensive method with slightly different versions of the same sentence to learn or review an important meaning of the present perfect verb tense in depth and detail.
If you have not listened to episodes 115, 116, and 117 on past participles and the present perfect already- now is the perfect time to do that!
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PS- Tim is experiencing some technical difficulties with his sound equipment, so the episode contains some minor sound problems that do not affect the lesson's content. Tim will rerecord the episode ASAP (as soon as possible).

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Ever jumped out of an airplane? How about the Eiffel Tower- have you been there? Or maybe you've done something simple but important, like change the oil in your car? The present perfect, the verb tense of experiences, will help you to talk about important and exciting things you've done in your life.
If you've learned both regular past participles and irregular past participles, then constructing sentences in the present perfect is easy. There is one difficulty, though: students often confuse it with other verb tenses, like the past simple or the present simple.
Listen to Episode 117 to learn when to use the present perfect by listening to memorable, situations and deeply explained examples.

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